Why only two subjects come up for five-year revalidation of basic training, and onboard experience (STCW Code A-VI/1)

The five-year validity of a basic safety training certificate is a common shorthand, but read STCW Code A-VI/1 as written and what has to be evidenced every five years is not all four subjects. This article reads that line.

Familiarization and basic training sit at different levels

1 Before being assigned to shipboard duties, all persons employed or engaged on a seagoing ship, other than passengers, shall receive approved familiarization training in personal survival techniques or receive sufficient information and instruction, taking account of the guidance given in part B, to be able to:

The reach is all persons, with only passengers excluded. It does not turn on being a seafarer or on which duties are held. And there is a choice of form: approved familiarization training, or sufficient information and instruction.

Seven abilities are listed.

• Communicate with others on board on elementary safety matters and understand safety symbols, signs and alarm signals
• Know what to do if a person falls overboard, if fire or smoke is detected, or if the fire or abandon ship alarm sounds
• Identify muster and embarkation stations and emergency escape routes
• Locate and don lifejackets
• Raise the alarm and have basic knowledge of the use of portable fire extinguishers
• Take immediate action on an accident or other medical emergency before seeking further medical assistance on board
• Close and open the fire, weathertight and watertight doors fitted in that ship

Basic training reaches a narrower group: seafarers with designated safety or pollution-prevention duties in the operation of the ship, before being assigned to shipboard duties.

Basic training covers four subjects

Subject	Table
Personal survival techniques	A-VI/1-1
Fire prevention and fire fighting	A-VI/1-2
Elementary first aid	A-VI/1-3
Personal safety and social responsibilities	A-VI/1-4

How competence is evidenced is set out as well: demonstration of competence in accordance with the methods and criteria in columns 3 and 4 of the tables, and examination or continuous assessment as part of an approved training programme in the subjects in column 2.

Two of those come up every five years

3 Seafarers qualified in accordance with paragraph 2 in basic training shall be required, every five years, to provide evidence of having maintained the required standard of competence, to undertake the tasks, duties and responsibilities listed in column 1 of tables A-VI/1-1 and A-VI/1-2.

The provision names two tables: A-VI/1-1 and A-VI/1-2, personal survival techniques and fire prevention and fire fighting. Elementary first aid and personal safety and social responsibilities are not in that sentence.

So even where the four subjects came on one certificate, what the provision requires evidence of maintaining every five years is two of them. The form of the certificate and the revalidation procedure are set by flag State law, so the actual validity on a certificate comes from that country’s system rather than from the provision.

Onboard training and experience can serve as the evidence

Parties may accept onboard training and experience as evidence of maintained competence, and the items that can be accepted are listed in the provision.

Table	Items acceptable through onboard training and experience
A-VI/1-1	Don a lifejacket; board a survival craft from the ship while wearing a lifejacket; take initial actions on boarding a lifeboat to enhance chance of survival; stream a lifeboat drogue or sea-anchor; operate survival craft equipment; operate location devices including radio equipment
A-VI/1-2	Use self-contained breathing apparatus; effect a rescue in a smoke-filled space using an approved smoke-generating device aboard, while wearing a breathing apparatus

That the acceptable items come only from those two tables joins up with the previous section. The two subjects that need evidence every five years are the two that onboard training can evidence.

Which ships the exemption door opens for is fixed

5 The Administration may, in respect of ships other than passenger ships of more than 500 gross tonnage engaged on international voyages and tankers, if it considers that a ship’s size and the length or character of its voyage are such as to render the application of the full requirements of this section unreasonable or impracticable, exempt to that extent the seafarers on such a ship or class of ships from some of the requirements, bearing in mind the safety of people on board, the ship and property and the protection of the marine environment.

What is excluded comes first: passenger ships of more than 500 gross tonnage engaged on international voyages, and tankers. No exemption opens for those.

For other ships it is not automatic either. The Administration has to consider that the ship’s size and the length or character of its voyage make applying the full requirements unreasonable or impracticable, and the exemption reaches only that far. In doing so it has to bear in mind the safety of people on board, the ship and property, and the protection of the marine environment.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from printed pages 180 and 181 of Code section A-VI/1 of STCW/CONF.2/34. The form of the certificate, the revalidation procedure, and what records count as onboard training are set by flag State law. When the certificate held by that seafarer expires, whether the onboard drill records actually cover the acceptable items, and whether an exemption applies to that ship are where the actual judgement starts.